Expansion of Breeding in Middle East Pigeon Service, March 1943

Excerpt from “Loft Manager and Pigeons,” by Bert Braspenning, Holland, in Racing Pigeon Digest, October 15, 2019:

     “When the last middle distance races start you can see the number of participating pigeons run back quickly.  This is because many fanciers who no longer have a chance at a championship will focus on the young pigeon game….A lot is being demanded of the young pigeons while they have to work in the toughest period of the season.  Often very hot and that is not an easy task for not well-trained youngsters.  This year and last year the juniors have a very difficult time.

     Still I look forward with interest to the remaining races.  The young pigeons are increasingly forming pairs, are cuddling somewhere in corners.  Others already have eggs and a couple gave birth to the first youngster two days ago.”

(c) Crown copyright images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, Kew, UK

Catalog number:  AIR23/998  #89

US Army Signal Pigeon Companies Manuals

Many thanks to Richard Fowler for contributing these links to the manuals.

TM 11—410, THE HOMING PIGEON, 1 January 1945

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55084

https://archive.org/details/1945TM11-410

FM 11-80 Pigeon Signal Company Sept 15, 1944

https://archive.org/details/FM11-8

 

"Pigeon Communication" FM 24-5 Basic Field Manual Signal Communication, Oct. 19, 1942

https://archive.org/details/FM24-5BasicFieldManualSignalCommunication/page/n103

(1943) Pigeon Training Section, Preventative Veterinary Medicine,      Signal Corps, 88pp
 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924000932164&view=2up&seq=2

 (1940)  TM 11—410, THE HOMING PIGEON, 10 September 1940, 72pp
 https://archive.org/details/TM11-410

  (1936)  TR 1255-1 The Homing Pigeon,  30 October 1936, 33 pp
  https://books.google.com/books?id=-9wsAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1

  (1931) Ch 9, Pigeon Loft Management, Signal Corps field manual,  Volume II, Signal Corps Operations, pp134-147
  https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b630685&view=2up&seq=146

  (1931) "Pigeons at message centers", Basic Field Manual, Vol IV, Signal Communication, 1931, 12pp chapter
  https://books.google.com/books?id=VVAsbIoCRNgC&pg=PA248&dq=pigeons

  (1923) The pigeoneer. Training Manual No. 32, Students manual for all arms,  15 August 1923, 164pp
  https://books.google.com/books?id=yyhDAAAAYAAJ
  https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924000069231&view=2up&seq=6

  (1923) Message Center Specialist. Training Manual No. 24, Students manual for all arms, 28 June 1923, pp 46-64
  https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101072897109&view=2up&seq=712

(1920)  Homing Pigeon, Care and Training for Military Purposes, February, 1920, 60 pp
https://books.google.com/books?id=Z8UtAAAAIAAJ

This one is a British manual:

 (1919) "Pigeon Service Manual", Air Ministry, June 1919, 17pp
 https://vassallohistory.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/raf-pigeon-service-manual1.pdf

Why does the hawk wait?

Since the beginning of September I have seen two birds attacked by hawks.  It is excruciating because the hawk doesn’t kill the bird immediately.  The hawk stands on the bird, flattening it and pinning the bird to the ground.  All the bird can do is lie there, eyes open, fully alive and knowing that death is the only outcome.

The first time it was a pigeon.  I shouted, “No!” at the hawk and miraculously, the hawk flew off.  The pigeon limped a few steps and then flew a wobbly path under a car.  Later that pigeon flew up on the roof  of a building but when I went back a few hours later to check on him, he seemed afraid to fly down.  All we can do is hope the swelling went down from the puncture wound in his shoulder and he was able to fly off the building.

On Saturday a hawk got a dove.  A gentle, peaceful collar neck dove.  The hawk stood on the dove.  I shouted, “Get off that bird!” The dove started flapping his wings trying to get free.  It didn’t matter.  The hawk flew off with the dove.

Why does the hawk wait?  Does the hawk enjoy the sense of power it gets from scaring the bird?  If so, that is really sick.  Really sick. And very disappointing to know that a hawk might be just like people we can all think of who engage in cruelty just because it makes them feel powerful.

(c) Crown copyright images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, Kew, UK

Catalog numbers:  AIR23/998

#65, #66, #67, #68, #69, #70, #71

Have the pigeons arrived? Managing the Pigeon Service in Africa, 1943

(c) Crown copyright images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, Kew, UK

Catalog numbers:  AIR23/6546  #57, #61, #62, #63, #64, #65, #66, #67, #68

AIR23/998  #55, #57

Page 2 is missing from one of the reports.

Accommodations for 3300 pigeons, March 1943

Description of photo by the Imperial War Museum

The British Army in the Middle East, 1939-45

Sergeant Sidney Patey tending a slightly injured carrier pigeon, held by Corporal J. Bent of the Royal Air Force, at the Centre, 9 July 1943. Sergeant Patey was one of the three survivors of seven veteran pigeon fanciers sent out of England to establish the centre. He was a native of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Corporal Bent was a native of Royton, Lancashire.

During the Second World War the use of pigeons in warfare was by no means outdated and even in the age of mechanised combat they could and did perform vital work, as sometimes they could get a message through when all else failed. Only certain breeds of pigeons are suitable as carriers and casualties occurred as with their human masters. It was the job of the Middle East Pigeon Service, Breeding Centre to maintain a supply of birds to replace casualties or wastage for reasons of health etc. Only properly trained men could adequately care for the birds and select pigeons which would breed well, so the authorities have made sure that only men well versed in the habits of these birds were allowed to join the centre. Though breeding was the main task of the Centre, initial training was also given to the birds before despatch to operational lofts all over the Middle East. In addition, the Centre evolved a technique of inoculation of the pigeons as a protection against para-typhoid and other diseases to which the birds are subject, especially when their resistance is lowered as a result of a long and strenuous flight. Extremely valuable help was given by the South African Pigeon Service in sending up drafts of pigeons, nearly 3000 of them, when the Centre was in its infancy. Finally, the success of the Centre depended almost entirely on the devotion to their charges which was shown by the small band of pigeon fanciers, some of whose pictures are given.  Photo by Sergeant Wolfe, Photographer, No. 1 Army Film & Photographic Unit.  Imperial War Museum © IWM (E 25657)

(c) Crown copyright images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, Kew, UK

Catalog numbers:  AIR23/6546  #49, #50, #24, #25

Remembering a brave pigeon

On September 11 I walked through a parking lot and saw the American flag at half-mast in front of the post office.  I wondered which had more impact on the United States, World War II, a war affecting millions of Americans, fought on foreign soil, or the planes crashing into the World Trade Center in the heart of New York City?  It was a dumb question.  How could the impact of each be quantified, and how could they be compared?  Probably the question roamed into my mind because recently I had been in a small house built in 1945.  Termites had gotten the floor and parts of some of the walls, yet the house felt inhabited.  I don’t believe in ghosts and I wasn’t thinking about World War II before going into the house, but after a few minutes inside it felt as if someone watched us, protective of the house, not quite ready to share the house.  We decided too much work needed to be done to make the house livable and hit the road, regretful that a historical treasure like that had been neglected. 

Hours later, a sudden conviction came over me that the presence in the house had been that of someone who had fought in the war and had sat there many a night remembering the screams, remembering the artillery shells, remembering the arms and legs shot off, the look on men’s faces when they knew they would never see home again.  Somehow it felt as if the owner of the house after the war had spent months of days and nights waiting to hear the sound of Stukas and JU88s diving towards him, mistakenly thinking that this small house was a small bombed out building on a farm where he and members of his unit were taking cover from the enemy, and wishing like hell that the whole thing had never happened.

So the days we experienced after September 11, 2001 and the overpowering presence of this man’s memories were jumbled together as I walked through the parking lot.  Then I saw a pigeon walking separately from the other pigeons.   She looked confused and sick.  As I got closer I saw that her beak was a little open and the feathers on the right side of her face were a sick discolored brown.  I started to cry because I knew she had the canker.  This disease can be cured if caught early enough, but she looked so sick.  I knew it was probably too late.  I tried to catch her and even though she couldn’t fly she could still get away from me.  I told her, “I’m not going to try to catch you anymore.  When I get into my car if you want me to bring you to the doctor, walk to the car and I will open the door and let you in.  You are so sick.  If you stay here, you will die.  If you go to the doctor, maybe they can help.  I don’t want to promise anything because you pretty sick, but I will bring you if you want to go.”  She had stopped and looked up at me while I was talking.

When I finished walking, I started the engine.  She was ten feet away to the left of the car.  She walked under the car.  I got out and came around to the right side.  By then she was standing about six feet away.  I told her again I would bring her and opened the door.  She walked over and hopped onto the back seat floor.  We made the drive.

Terry, the Operations Manger at Liberty Wildlife, told me he would leave me a voicemail about the pigeon.  The next day I heard that the vet did a visual acuity test.  The canker had made its way into the pigeon’s brain.  They gave her some food and let her pass away on her own time. She was safe from hawks but away from her friends.  Such a hard choice to make.  She bravely tried to get help, but it was too late.

Report on pigeons in East Africa, April 29, 1943

(c) Crown copyright images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, Kew, UK

Catalog numbers:  AIR23/6546  #02, #41, #42

Royal Air Force Operations in the Middle East and North Africa, 1939-1943

Supermarine Spitfire Mark Vs of No. 322 Wing RAF, parked in their dispersals at Tingley, Algeria. In the foreground Mark VBs ES187 'C' and ES191 'T' of No. 154 Squadron RAF are being brought to readiness for a patrol. Note the extensive use of pierced steel planking (PSP) to surface the dispersals and taxiways.  Photo by Official RAF photographer Flight Lieutenant Bertrand John Henry Daventry.  Imperial War Museum  © IWM (CNA 278)

2500 pigeons needed from South Africa, May 1943

Commonwealth Joint Air Training Plan, No 23 Air School at Waterkloof, Pretoria, South Africa, January 1943

Training air machine gunners at No 23 Air School. Pupils waiting to take a turn in the power turret rig. The target is a motorized rail buggy which orbited the track at around 40 mph. The Askari native orderlies replenished the ammunition and collected the cases from fired rounds.

Photo by Lt. L. Chetwyn, War Office official photographer.  Imperial War Museum  © IWM (TR 1260)

(c) Crown copyright images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, Kew, UK

AIR23/6546  #24, #25, #35, #36

Commonwealth Joint Air Training Plan, No 23 Air School at Waterkloof, Pretoria, South Africa, January 1943

An RAF pipe band formed by Group Captain Dalzell marches towards the entrance of a camp at Kumalo, near Bulawayo.  Photo by Lt. L. Chetwyn, War Office official photographer.  Imperial War Museum         © IWM (TR 1257)

Commonwealth Joint Air Training Plan, No 23 Air School at Waterkloof, Pretoria, South Africa, January 1943

An Askari native guards an aircraft with an assegai.  Photo by Lt. L. Chetwyn, War Office official photographer.  Imperial War Museum © IWM (TR 1262)

NOMAD pigeons, April 1943

Nomad | Definition of Nomad by Merriam-Webster

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nomad

Nomad definition is - a member of a people who have no fixed residence but move from place to place usually seasonally and within a well-defined territory.

(c) Crown copyright images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, Kew, UK

Catalog numbers: AIR23/6546  #28, #29, #30, #31, #32,